TCU

April 23, 2013

TCU coach Gary
Patterson is a known music fan. And Horned Frog fans know the guitar-strumming
coach has often played music at practices during his 12-year tenure.
San Antonio Express-News reporter Tim Griffin was surveying Big 12 coaches' use of music during Tuesday’s teleconference and asked Patterson about it.

"We’ve been
doing it for years, especially early, before practice, when the kids come out to get them energized and ready to go,” Patterson said. “We do it quite a bit for
crowd noise. People have to communicate with their hands. It plays a big part. Late
in practice we keep it in the background to kind of kill the monotony but it’s
not loud enough that you can’t do your teamwork and do all the things you need
to do.”
Patterson credits music with keeping spirits high during the grind of
August camp or in the middle of the season. But if the practice isn’t going
well, he’ll turn it off. Imagine the sound of a needle being ripped off a vinyl
record. (What’s a vinyl record? Here's a
picture for you kids.)

That’s the effect music being stopped can have during
a practice if he doesn’t like what he’s seeing. It's happened a couple times the last four years.

“If we’re not
getting done what we need to get done then we just don’t have any,” he said. “It’s
kind of a reward. I think you have to find ways to get through a grind of a
season. For us, through the years, it has helped us with success, I think.”

Before
practice, as players makes their way to the field to stretch, the playlist is
more current with songs his players are probably more familiar with. During
practice, it’s Patterson’s picks, with classic rock staples such as Tom Petty’s
I Won’t Back Down, Guns N' Roses' Welcome to the Jungle and Trooper’s Raise a
Little Hell.

“If I play
anything during practice I play my music, so at least I’m happy,” he said.

Do they ever
complain about your choices, Griffin
asked?

“Oh, yeah. But
that’s part of life,” Patterson said. “But you’d be really surprised. There are
a lot of kids that like country and like the old rock and roll. I try to keep
both sides happy.”

April 21, 2013

Kwanza Johnson is set to be named an assistant
for TCU men’s basketball, according two sources inside the athletic department.Johnson has been an assistant at Georgia the last three seasons,
working under TCU coach Trent Johnson’s former assistant Mark Fox. Before that
he coached at Nevada
from 2006 to 2009. He grew up in Oklahoma City
and attended Rose State College in Midwest City,
Okla. before transferring to and graduating
from Tulsa. His
first job was an administrative assistant at Tulsa
from 1997-99 for coach Bill Self, who’s now at Kansas.Trent Johnson declined to comment, but Kwanza Johnson is currently being vetted by TCU before the announcement is made, according to sources.Kwanza Johnson replaces Pooh Williamson, who took an assistant job at Texas
Tech. Williamson coached under Trent Johnson for one season at TCU. He played
for new Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith at Tulsa
in the mid-1990s.
-- Stefan Stevenson

April 18, 2013

TCU golfer Julien Brun is one of 10 semifinalists for the 2013 Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the nation’s top college golfer.

Brun, a sophomore from Antibes, France who won a European Challenge Tour event as an amateur last fall, made the list of semifinalists for a second consecutive season. He was joined Thursday by Texas freshman Brandon Stone as well as Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers, one of three finalists in 2012.

The three finalists for the Hogan Award will take part in a live announcement of the winner May 20 in Fort Worth. The announcement is part of tournament week activities at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Three of Thursday’s other semifinalists made the list for a second consecutive year: Washington’s Cheng-Tsung Pan, Alabama’s Justin Thomas and Washington’s Chris Williams. Other semifinalists include North Carolina State’s Albin Choi, North Florida’s Sean Dale, California’s Michael Kim and Alabama’s Bobby Wyatt.

The list of candidates will be trimmed to three finalists on May 8, with those golfers honored during the live announcement of the winner in Fort Worth. No TCU golfer has advanced past the semifinals stage in Hogan Award voting.

But Brun, the No. 6 player in the Scratch Players World Amateur golf rankings, joins Williams (No. 1), Wyatt (No. 4) and Thomas (No. 5) among the highest-ranked Hogan semifinalists on the elite list.

Thursday’s list of semifinalists includes the top four players, as well as eight of the top 10, in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings for college golfers. Brun is fourth on that list, which is topped by Kim, Dale and Stone.

Members of the Hogan Award selection committee consider a player’s record in both college and amateur events over the past year.

April 17, 2013

Hudson Price, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from The First
Academy in Orlando, Fla., became the fourth recruit to sign with
TCU Wednesday. Price, son of former NBA All-Star Mark Price, averaged 18.7
points and 7.8 rebounds his senior season. He shot 54.7 percent from the field,
including 45.2 percent from the 3-point arc.
“He’s very skilled,” TCU coach Trent Johnson said. “There’s
not much he hasn’t seen in the world of basketball when you look at the caliber
of player his dad was.”Price joins center Karviar Shepherd (Dallas Prime Prep) and
guards Brandon Parrish (Arlington Seguin) and Michael Williams (San Antonio
Reagan) in the 2013 recruiting class. Johnson said additional
players could be signed before May 15, the deadline for the spring signing
period.“These guys all compliment each other,” Johnson said. “I
just think he’s going to be a really good college player. Hudson knows how hard players work to be
good.”

April 16, 2013

TCU assistant men's basketball coach Pooh Williamson is taking an
assistant job at Texas Tech, sources said. Williamson coached under Trent
Johnson for one season at TCU. Williamson played for new Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith
at Tulsa in the
mid-1990s. Smith was named the Red Raiders coach April 2. He's Tech's fourth coach in four years.Johnson said a replacement for Williamson will be named soon.-- Stefan Stevenson@FollowtheFrogs

April 12, 2013

There were very few significant changes to TCU's post-spring depth chart. Much more will be decided during August camp, which begins July 31.The biggest change was on the offensive line. Aviante Collins, who started at right tackle as a freshman for the first 11 games before moving to left tackle in 2012, has been moved to left tackle. Tayo Fabuluje has moved to right tackle.Sophomore right guard Jamelle Naff, who started the spring third on the depth chart, has been moved to the top spot ahead of Michael Thompson and John Wooldridge.There were no significant changes at quarterback, running back or wide receiver. Trevone Boykin and Casey Pachall are still listed as potential starters. Defensive end James McFarland who received praise from coach Gary Patterson several times during spring camp, was moved to second on the depth chart behind Jon Koontz at left defensive end. Matt Anderson, who has struggled with injuries, is listed behind Devonte Fields at right end.Here's the complete post-spring depth chart:

April 10, 2013

Fox Sports Southwest will offer live telecasts of the Oklahoma and Texas Tech spring football games, network officials announced today.

The telecast of the Oklahoma game, set for Saturday in Norman, Okla. (2 p.m., FSSW), will be preceded by a two-hour pregame show. Tech’s spring game will be played April 20 in Lubbock (1 p.m., FSSW).Both games also will air nationally on Fox College Sports.

Texas A&M’s spring game, set for Saturday (2 p.m., Kyle Field), will be an ESPN national telecast. Network officials announced plans to air the Aggies’ spring game last month.

In May, FSSW officials also will air a series of 30-minue shows recapping spring drills for area colleges. Below is a look at FSSW’s planned schedule of spring football coverage for area colleges:

March 12, 2013

Texas golfer Madison Pressel qualified today to join her older sister, LPGA Tour standout Morgan Pressel, in the field for the North Texas LPGA Shootout, April 25-28 at Las Colinas Country Club.

Pressel fired an even-par 71 at the Las Colinas layout to join North Carolina’s Casey Grice, a College Station native, as co-medalists at the North Texas Collegiate Shootout. They claimed the two spots reserved for college participants in the $1.3 million LPGA event in Irving.

Texas A&M golfer Chelsea Mocio, a Fort Worth Arlington Heights graduate, posted a 73 and is one of two alternates for the college exemptions. As alternates, Mocio and A&M teammate Katerina Ruzickova (74) earned spots in an April 22 qualifier at Las Colinas with touring pros to try and earn a last-minute spot in the field.

Pressel, a senior, said it will be “incredible” to make her LPGA debut in the same event as her sister, a two-time tour winner and past major champion (2007 Kraft Nabisco Championship) who already has committed to compete in Irving.

“It’s very exciting,” Pressel said. “I’ve never been able to play with her in a tournament setting. It’ll be weird preparing for a tournament on the same golf course with her.”

Grice, a junior who played at A&M Consolidated High School, said she is “definitely very excited” for the opportunity to make her LPGA debut in her home state.

Mocio, a junior, said she made “a couple of mental mistakes” during back-nine holes in Tuesday’s round that prevented her from joining the co-medalists at the top of the leaderboard but said she is excited she will have a second chance to try and play her way into the field at the April 22 qualifier in Irving.

Below is a look at the results of all 18 competitor's in today's event:

Shootout results

A look at Tuesday’s scores from the 18 participants in the North Texas Collegiate LPGA Shootout in Irving:

March 11, 2013

Participants in the North Texas Collegiate Shootout, which will send two college golfers into the field for North Texas’ upcoming LPGA Tour event in Irving, will take the course at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Las Colinas Country Club.

The top two finishers among the 18 college golfers in the 18-hole competition will earn berths in the North Texas LPGA Shootout, a full-field event scheduled April 25-28 at Las Colinas CC.

March 07, 2013

Four Big 12 football teams will have Thursday night games, arranged for national telecasts, on their 2013 schedules: Texas, Texas Tech, TCU and Baylor.

Texas and Texas Tech will play in two of the four Thursday games, including a Thanksgiving night matchup in Austin, league officials announced today. TCU and Baylor will have one game each.

The Thursday night telecasts, with times and networks to be announced later, include Texas at Iowa State (Oct. 3), TCU at Texas Tech (Sept. 12), Oklahoma at Baylor (Nov. 7) and Texas Tech at Texas on Thanksgiving night (Nov. 28).